Erika Lundahl is a heart-forward songwriter for resilient hearts and resonant bodies. Living on Coast Salish land in Seattle, Erika’s folk medicine roots in personal and collective histories of resilience, seeking futures of abundance, possibility and healing. She is an environmental justice organizer, who is committed to low-carbon touring in her electric vehicle. Record Crates United reviewed Erika’s 2020 album "Daughter, You're a Storyteller," saying: "..a stellar collection of deeply personal ballads and tributes to the heart. With songs that are inspired by the unlocking of the stories within our genetics, and seeking to explore our pasts to better understand our present adult minds and bodies."  

About Erika’s new album, Messy Blessed Infinity: An exuberant love letter to the world, Seattle artist Erika Lundahl relishes in emergent sonic landscapes that bend from energized folk rock to hushed spoken word poetry.  Refracting like light through glass, the album celebrates Pacific Northwest resistance movements like the Fairy Creek Blockade and efforts to breach the Snake River dams, and then heads inward to embrace the soft animal body within, exploring the self with songs of grief, reckonings with intimacy, heartbreak, and self care. Listen to “Messy Blessed Infinity” by Erika Lundahl.

Our evening together in Portland begins at 6:30. In the spirit of communal sharing, this event is a potluck. Please arrive early and bring something if inspired. If you are interested in attending (space is limited), please Register Here. Event location: 4724 NE 12th Ave., Portland OR 97211.

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Our vision is a world with enough room for all of earth’s 8.7 million living species. We feature environmental practitioners, scientists, activists, filmmakers, writers and artists whose work furthers this vision. Join Half Wild.

Beavers are master architects that transform landscapes into lush wetlands teeming with life. Their intricate networks of dams, lodges, and channels create riparian sanctuaries for countless species, and bring back biodiversity. Beavers foster resilient ecosystems that can better withstand the challenges of a changing climate. Here in the Pacific Northwest, it might be time to become a “Beaver Believer.”

This evening we feature Meg Waller, the dedicated Restoration Manager at Bark. As Bark’s resident beaver expert, Meg works to restore natural habitats and promote biodiversity, including by reintroducing beavers in the vicinity of Mt. Hood. Her work focuses on identifying habitat suitable for future beaver reintroduction as well as sharing that data with key players in the Oregon beaver world. She is founder and chair of the PNW Forest Climate Alliance Beaver Working Group, a small group of dedicated beaver believers who focus on beaver legislation and policy, including upcoming amendments to the Northwest Forest Plan. Additionally, she co-teaches a class at Portland State University called Environmental Justice and Salmon, wherein students learn about not only the environmental impacts of beavers but the socio-cultural history and impacts as well. Meg moved to Portland in 2018 where she completed her bachelor’s in environmental science. She hails from Lake Beluthahatchee in North Florida, a black water swamp chock full of gators, bald cypress, venomous snakes, and birds of prey where she learned early on about the power, beauty and importance of the natural world and our place within it.

Meg will share her insights and reflections coming from a deep love for plants and wetlands and, of course, beavers. Are you a beaver believer? Bring your natural curiosity and questions.

Our evening together in Portland begins at 6:30. In the spirit of communal sharing, this event is a potluck. Please arrive early and bring something if inspired. If you are interested in attending (space is limited) please register here.

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Our vision is a world with enough room for all of earth’s 8.7 million living species. we feature environmental practitioners, scientists, activists, filmmakers, writers and artists whose work furthers this vision. Join Half Wild.

—Our evening at Propulsion Zone in Portland begins at 6:30. In the spirit of communal sharing, this event is a potluck. Please arrive early and bring something if inspired. Please send a message to Andrzej via our Contact form so that we know how many people are attending.

Chad Brown, a black, disabled, and decorated US Navy veteran with service in the Gulf War/Desert Storm and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, has made significant strides as a conservationist, creative director, art director, photographer, and distinguished filmmaker. Chad has worked with leading design firms and ad agencies, and is celebrated as a professional creative. He has served as an editorial photographer for the New York Times, and has worked with leading hip-hop culture business moguls such as Russell Simmons, Rev Run VP of Run Athletics/ Phatfarm.

Chad has personally experienced the transformative power of nature in his battle with PTSD with his discovery of fly fishing. His mission is now to ensure that everyone has access to this healing power. Brown is not only the creator of one nonprofit but two. Alongside Soul River, which facilitates mentorship experiences for veterans and inner-city youth on wild rivers, he established Love Is King (LIK), an organization dedicated to advocating for the rights of marginalized and vulnerable communities in outdoor spaces. Chad is also a Board Member of Alaska Wilderness League, which has supported his work with BIPOC communities, with veterans for Soul River Inc., and with Love is King, via engagements to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in collaboration with Indigenous communities.

Chad will share excerpts from one of his films, Blackwaters, and discuss plans for his next film. The mission of LIK Operation Roam (Rapid Ongoing Advance Missions) is to empower BIPOC leaders to engage in public land and freshwater conservation initiatives, disrupting the historical exclusion of BIPOC voices from government decision-making on land, wildlife, and indigenous conservation policies. Chad will also speak in his capacity as a Board member for Alaska Wilderness League, and share how we can support his work and the work of Alaska Wilderness League.

Chad infuses creativity into the realm of social and environmental justice storytelling through his work in film and photography. He challenges outdated narratives, birthing new, profound truths about social and environmental justice. By amplifying the voices and experiences within BIPOC subcultures, he crafts empowering and engaging stories. Through his art, Chad offers a fresh perspective that seeks to correct misconceptions and educate a broad audience. His mission is to transform long-standing, disruptive outdoor narratives, with a keen focus on the conservation of wildlife, freshwater, land, and on the rights of Indigenous communities.

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Our vision is a world with enough room for all of earth’s 8.7 million living species. We feature environmental practitioners, scientists, activists, filmmakers, writers and artists whose work furthers this vision. Join Half Wild.

Half Wild thanks Propulsion Network for contributing their space for this event! Propulsion Network enables cultural and educational programs to support development of low income and minority groups affected by socioeconomic factors.

Peter Michael Bauer is an anthropologist, experimental archaeologist, historian, and life-long community organizer. His work focuses on the social and environmental impacts of the neolithic revolution, and how understanding these impacts can provide us with solutions to the sixth mass extinction. Since the early 2000’s, he has been an integral catalyst in the human rewilding movement. As host of The Rewilding Podcast, Peter explores the philosophy and practice of returning to collective place-based, regenerative subsistence strategies, inspired by those that exist outside of–and those that existed prior to–the formation of agrarian states. Peter has also created the first international online rewilding forum (now archived at discuss.rewild.com), wrote a book on rewilding called Rewild or Die, founded the organization Rewild Portland (where he serves as Executive Director and also teaches classes), and created the Annual North American Rewilding Conference. From the age of 16 he has traveled the country attending programs such as Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracker School, Wilderness Awareness School in Washington State, Rabbitstick Rendezvous, Echoes in Time, Wintercount, Lynx Vilden’s Stone Age immersion program, and the Columbia Basin Basketry Guild (where he currently sits on the Board of Directors). He has been an environmental educator for many organizations in Portland, including Cascadia Wild, Friends of Tryon Creek, and the Audubon Society.

Peter will be sharing personal reflections on his unique relationship to wild nature and to the more-than-human world. We will have time for questions and discussion afterwards.

Our evening together in Portland begins at 6:30. In the spirit of communal sharing, this event is a potluck. Please arrive early and bring something if inspired. If you are interested in attending (space is limited) please send a message to Andrzej via our Contact form.

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community of creatives and appreciators of the arts grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Join Half Wild.

“Across the climate frontier, and especially in rural Alaska, entire communities have already begun the process of relocating en masse. In the wealthy cities of the world, this undertaking inspires a profound dread. Miami has been elegized many times over. But the most vulnerable have no time for elegies; they are too busy with the real business of adapting to life on a changing planet."

- Stephen Lezak

Stephen Lezak is a writer, researcher, and advocate working at the intersection of climate politics and environmental justice. He is based at two universities—Oxford and Cambridge—and the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute. His essays, reporting, and research appear in several academic journals and edited books, as well as The New Republic, Emergence, Grist, The Independent, Alaska Public Media, High Country News, Colorado Public Radio, and The Arizona Republic. His research has been covered by The Washington Post, The Financial Times, Al Jazeera, The Times (UK), and translated into Spanish, Arabic, Mongolian, and Indonesian. He served as an expert reviewer for the IPCC's 6th Assessment Report and has advised two U.S. Presidential campaigns on climate policy. He lives in Western Alaska.

This potluck evening is being held at Andrzej, Natalie, and Lia’s house in the Alberta Arts district. Please arrive early and bring a dish to share for our potluck together, which starts at 6:30.

To attend (space is limited) and to receive the address please send a message to Andrzej via our Contact form with your name and the name of any other guests who will be joining you (up to 3 guests).

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community of creatives and appreciators of the arts grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Join Half Wild.

We are honored and excited Kia Zora will be with us this evening speaking about her art (and hanging out with us)! “Kia Zora Is a third generation artist born and raised in the lush green of the pacific Northwest. Zora’s creations are an inquiry into unperceived realms that underpin our interconnection. With a reverence and respect for the unseen forces that govern our beings, Zora constructs images that convey the interplay of those elements with the world around us: nothing dies, it merely changes form. Her motifs and patterns are biologically inspired, representing the phenomenal intricacies she observes in the natural world. Zora is self taught, and inspired by a strong community of like-minded creatives. Zora’s hope is that her art encourages others to reflect on their intrinsic relationships with the rest of the natural world.” See Kia’s Paintings.

This potluck evening is being held at Andrzej, Natalie, and Lia’s house in the Alberta Arts district. Please arrive early and bring a dish to share for our potluck together, which starts at 6:30.

To attend (space is limited) and to receive the address please send a message to Andrzej via our Contact form with your name and the name of any other guests who will be joining you (up to 3 guests).

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community of creatives and appreciators of the arts grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, and for wildness. Join Half Wild.

Please arrive early and bring a dish to share for our potluck together, which starts at 6:30. $10-20 suggested donation for the artist (no-one turned away).

Half Wild (https://halfwild.earth/) is a community of creatives and appreciators of the arts grounded in a deep respect for the land, for nature, for wildness. Join us.

We are honored and excited Mariee Sioux will be with us this evening! Mariee was raised in Northern California and is of Indigenous and Polish Hungarian ancestry. She prefers to be known as an abstract storyteller and a voice for the natural world and trials of humanity through song. She's been given gifts of songs for over 10 years. Her songs have been described as medicinal, hallucinatory, and haunting, with a trance-like performance. Since the debut of her first album, Faces in the Rocks, Mariee Sioux has drawn comparisons from Joanna Newsom to Joni Mitchell, and she has toured through North America and Europe. Visit https://www.instagram.com/marieesioux/

Listen/Watch:
Swimming Through Stone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN7C_AplvVo
Wild Eyes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28yuWPnX33w

We are also delighted Emily Afton (http://www.emilyaftonmusic.com/) will be sharing a couple of her own songs with us ahead of Mariee's performance.

Thanks to Oakland Oasis Coop for hosting this event.

Half Wild is thrilled to present Future Ecologies: An Evening with Rucha Chitnis and Adam Huggins.

Join us for an evening of community and conversation. Please bring a dish or snacks to share. We will begin with nourishments at 6:30. Please be sure to arrive no later than 7:30, as our live interview begins at 7:45.

On this special evening Adam Huggins will interview photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Rucha Chitnis live for the Future Ecologies podcast. Our interview will follow a screening of Rucha's award-winning documentary short, "In the Land of My Ancestors," which celebrates the living legacy of Ann Marie Sayers, a beloved Ohlone elder. Rucha's film is the 2018 Platinum Winner of the International Independent Film Awards.

In Future Ecologies' first season, Adam Huggins and co-founder Mendel Skulski have displayed a remarkable talent for weaving stories, interviews, music, and soundscapes into a highly engaging podcast on par with East Coast analogs Inside/Out and Here be Monsters. Listen to Season 1 of Future Ecologies podcast.

As Rucha Chitnis articulates, "Women are our invisible life force. They are the world's farmers, seed savers, peace builders, human rights defenders and environmental guardians. As a photojournalist, I am passionate about making the invisible visible--particularly women's counter narratives and grounded alternatives in the face of human rights abuses, food insecurity and ecological and climate crises."

-- Thanks to our friends at The Lion's Den for welcoming us into their home! --

On June 19 Half Wild will welcome Seattle-based musician and activist Erika Lundahl, an innovative 12-string guitar player and classically trained vocalist. She employs her distinctive "tapping" guitar style to create an enveloping, heart-centered musical space. Her poetic, often autobiographical lyrics employ poignant and powerful imagery to deal with contemporary social issues. Her recent album 'Brambles', released under the name Animals of Grace, is the compilation of 7 songs and is an introspective gaze into the heart during a time of climate crisis. 

Her songs are “pure as nature with glossy harmonies and elegant melodies….Every song on Brambles is a highlight but if push came to shove, I would choose the beautiful opener, “Bartered Time.” The song is serene and slightly lonesome at times, feeling like the musical equivalent to waking to an early, damp autumn morning in a chilly remote cabin. Under the comforting instrumentation, poignant and powerful imagery flourishes in the track’s lyrics…” – Keith Hedad, Record Crates United 

She is currently on tour with percussionist and vocalist Doug Indrick, whose combination of live drums, vocal harmonies, and occasional electronic pads evoke a spirit of wilderness and wonder for the Pacific Northwest.

Please bring food for our potluck together, which starts promptly at 6:30pm. Music at 7:30pm. $10-20 donation for the artists (no-one turned away).

Half Wild is excited to welcome Clan Dyken and Heather Normandale!

--- Half Wild brings together artists and music appreciators grounded in a deep respect for nature, to speak, through song, to that wild part of each of us. The goal of Half Wild is cultural change to return nature to our collective consciousness. ---

For our concert/potluck together, please bring food to share! The potluck starts promptly at 6pm and music starts at 7pm.

Also, we would encourage a $10-20 donation for the artists (no-one turned away!)

"...Clan Dyken has released eleven albums on their own Forward Productions label. Songs from those recordings are featured in films and heard on radio around the world. They are perhaps best known as the activist band that has played in clear cut forests, proposed nuke dumps, nuke test sites, Indian reservations and many more cutting edge venues, often using solar generated electricity, and /or plant fuels, for recording and performing."
(from katewolfmusicfestival.com)

Listen to "Good Morning Grandmother" by Clan Dyken

"[Heather Normandale]...finds the inspiration for her music in the natural world. Her current project looks to the source of all life on the planet: water....Heather takes inspiration from water and its ubiquity in our bodies as well as in the natural environment and blended banjo, cello, and percussion to make some really gorgeous music..."
— Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, SUNfiltered

Listen to "As One" by Heather Normandale

THANK YOU TO OAKLAND OASIS HOUSE FOR HOSTING!

Event on Facebook

Half Wild welcomes Emma Hill and Bryan Daste to Oakland!

Half Wild is a community of artists and music appreciators deeply connected to nature. 

"Alaskan singer/songwriter Emma Hill and her co-writer/musician Bryan Daste have quickly made a massive impact with their alt/folk songs and their penchant for touching upon the deepest, most universal of subjects. They’ve been compared to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and their fourth album proves they’re not just a one-off, fly-by-night duo. Hill easily exudes that wild, adventurous style that only a true Alaskan can..."
- TOM H A L L E T T- Elmore Magazine

Listen to Emma here: http://www.emmahillmusic.com/listen/

For our concert/potluck together, please bring food to share! Also, we would encourage a $10-20 donation for the artists.

THANK YOU TO OAKLAND OASIS HOUSE FOR HOSTING!